Predicting the Post-Match SOAP: Be Prepared

The medical residency interview season is about to break for the holiday season. After the holidays, programs can still conduct interviews, but many programs will want to have their interviews all wrapped up for the opening of Rank Order List creation on January 15th.

Now is a good time to begin reflecting on your season, and start making hard decisions based on the number of interviews you have (or have not) received. Depending on how well you perceive your residency application season to be going, you may want to start learning about the Post-Match Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program® (SOAP®). The Post-Match SOAP allows eligible candidates to apply to programs with unfilled positions.

Post-Match preparation starts with a few simple questions. One of which is: Are you prepared for any additional specialties you might be interested in applying to?

Wise residency candidates know they need specialty specific documents such as Letters of Recommendation or Personal Statements while applying to programs for the Main Residency Match®. However, this simple principle tends to get forgotten in the mad Post-Match rush. It is very important to assess the resources you have now and compare what you have to what you may need in order to successfully approach the Post-Match.

For example, a residency candidate prepared for and applied to OBGYN programs for the Main Match. Unfortunately, the candidate only received one interview, so they think they may have to go through the Post-Match. The problem is there were only 7 unfilled PGY-1 positions in OBGYN and no Categorical positions during the 2015 Post-Match SOAP. As an alternative, the candidate may want to consider applying to preliminary Internal Medicine unfilled positions which had 118 positions. That means, this candidate will want to prepare a fresh, Internal Medicine specific Personal Statement and try to get specialty specific Letters of Recommendation.

We're Socializing

We’re Socializing

Copyright 2019 · Match A Resident · www.matcharesident.com

NATIONAL RESIDENT MATCHING PROGRAM®, NRMP®, SUPPLEMENTAL OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE PROGRAM®, and SOAP® are registered trademarks of National Resident Matching Program. Match A Resident is not sponsored by, endorsed by, or affiliated with National Resident Matching Program. THE MATCH™ is a trademark of National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®).